'Mars' mission reaches climax in a giant sand pit

A mock mission to Mars reached its climax on Monday after two cosmonauts
walked across a giant sandpit in Moscow meant to simulate the surface of the
Red Planet after being locked up in a pretend spaceship for eight months.

The two cosmonauts taking part in the first of three simulated spacewalks planted the flags of Russia, the European Space Agency, and China in the sand as controllers in Moscow's real-life mission control centre looked on.

"We have made great progress today," said Vitaly Davydov, the deputy head of the Russian Federal Space Agency as observers watched a video feed of the surreal moment.

"The crew feel fine," he added as the two cosmonauts took halting steps across the planet's mock surface wearing real spacesuits complete with heavy oxygen backpacks.

A three-man team will now spend the next month collecting rock samples and drilling beneath the fake planet's surface while coordinating their work with a remote-controlled space robot that will help them explore and collect samples. They will be confined to a mock landing vehicle for most of the time, while the other half of the six-man crew will remain "in orbit" in the main spaceship.

The experiment, called Mars 500, is scheduled to continue until November by which time the crew will have spent 520 days in what is thought to be one of the most gruelling isolation experiments ever undertaken.

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The idea of the exercise, which is taking place deep inside a Moscow research centre, is to learn more about the physical and psychological demands of long-distance space travel even though a real mission to Mars is thought to be at least two decades away.

Though it was not possible to simulate zero gravity, scientists have tried to make the experience as authentic as possible by confining the men in what amount to a series of claustrophobic metal tubes. Mock emergencies, scientific experiments, space food, delayed communications, and no natural light complete the experience.

Three of the men are Russians, one French, one Colombian/Italian and one is Chinese. Women were not included in the crew in order to reduce sexual tension, and the six men, who are only allowed to shower once a week, are being paid around £64,000 each.

An earlier and shorter experiment ended in controversy after a Canadian astronaut complained that the Russian captain had tried to kiss her and that two of the Russian participants had come to blows in a fist fight. Russia's space programme is in the process of being revamped after a long period of decline with new funding and a new spaceship in the works.